Infinite Unknown

Don’t miss the “Key Points” at the end of the article.
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· Closer links needed to beat terrorism and crime
· Blueprint wants new force to patrol world flashpoints

A German and an Italian officer with the joint EU force Frontex check a lorry for illegal immigrants on the Polish border. The agency, which is seen as one model of future integration, patrols the EU’s frontiers. Photograph: Sven Kaestner/AP

Europe should consider sharing vast amounts of intelligence and information on its citizens with the US to establish a “Euro-Atlantic area of cooperation” to combat terrorism, according to a high-level confidential report on future security.

The 27 members of the EU should also pool intelligence on terrorism, develop joint video-surveillance and unmanned drone aircraft, start networks of anti-terrorism centres, and boost the role and powers of an intelligence-coordinating body in Brussels, said senior officials. Continue reading »

Tags: ACLU, biometric, biometrics, civil liberties, Czech Republic, DNA, EU, France, Germany, Government, New World Order, Police, Police State, Portugal, Slovenia, Surveillance, Sweden, terrorism, U.S., video surveillance

The Bush administration has required agencies to increase their capability to share among themselves biometric information on people believed to pose a threat to national security.

A presidential directive issued June 5 requires the increased compatibility of methods agencies use to collect, store and share fingerprints, face and iris recognition data and behavioral characteristics to identify and screen “known and suspected terrorists.” The directive also applies to other categories of individuals the directive said would be identified soon who may also pose a threat to national security.

The National Security Presidential Directive 59/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 24’s purpose is to create a “framework” to ensure that agencies are using mutually compatible and legal methods for sharing biometric information, the document states.

The directive also explained that although existing name-based screening approaches are beneficial, biometric technologies can improve agencies’ ability to identify and screen people believed to threaten national security. Continue reading »

Tags: biometric, biometrics, Bush administration, DHS, George Bush, Homeland Security, national security, Surveillance, Uncategorized, White House

Officials say automatic screening more accurate than checks by humans.

A face recognition system will scan faces and match them to biometric chips on passports. Photograph: Image Source/Getty

Airline passengers are to be screened with facial recognition technology rather than checks by passport officers, in an attempt to improve security and ease congestion, the Guardian can reveal.

From summer, unmanned clearance gates will be phased in to scan passengers’ faces and match the image to the record on the computer chip in their biometric passports.

Border security officials believe the machines can do a better job than humans of screening passports and preventing identity fraud. The pilot project will be open to UK and EU citizens holding new biometric passports.

But there is concern that passengers will react badly to being rejected by an automated gate. To ensure no one on a police watch list is incorrectly let through, the technology will err on the side of caution and is likely to generate a small number of “false negatives” - innocent passengers rejected because the machines cannot match their appearance to the records. Continue reading »

Tags: biometric, EEA, EU, face recognition system, Face scans, U.K.